Someday, Someday Maybe is a “New York Times Bestseller”  by Lauren Graham. Graham has been in the news recently as she will reprise her role as Lorelai Gilmore in a limited reunion of the show, Gilmore Girls on Netflix.

My friend and I, being obsessed with the show in the early 2000s, resulted in my friend buying Someday, Someday Maybe as my birthday gift. Graham, starring in Gilmore Girls, is the major reason I own this book but not the major reason I loved reading this text.

With Graham’s rich acting past it is no wonder Graham made the leap from actor to writer. Having performed in countless movies and television shows, including Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, Graham is also a frequent Broadway performer, performing in hits such as Guys and Dolls. With a resume that produces hit after hit, Graham knows what audiences want: honesty, authentic experiences and catchy but profound diction. Graham creates the same experience within her writing.

One of the first things a reader will notice is the book’s official title, Someday, Someday Maybe: A Novel. “A Novel” is not the usually celebrity writing options as most celebrities usually compose cookbooks, photography books or memoirs (not that there is anything wrong with producing any of these).

The second element a reader will notice is only one name appears on the cover, “Lauren Graham.” In short, there is not a ghost writer or collaborator which is also another popular option with celebrity works. Graham works alone to complete a task she has done so often in her career: Graham dares to be uniquely herself, to step outside the prescribed notion of a celebrity text and write a fictitious book from her imagination. A reader can gather all of this just by the front cover but I highly recommend they turn every page of this delightful text. Once inside the book, a reader will be immersed in January 1995 which is six months before Franny Banks reaches the three year deadline she set for herself to become a famous Broadway actress. Along with support of her roommates and best friends, Dan and Jane, Franny keeps pushing forward with the idea that “someday, someday maybe” Franny will find the success she is looking for.

What Graham does so well is making the reader believe not only will Franny one day attain her goals but so will the reader. Graham accomplishes this by submerging the reader in Franny’s everyday life. Several pages of the story are Franny’s journal entries, date book entries, messages from her answering machine and scripts from her auditions. Often Franny doodles or writes notes to herself on the pages, which can be read as personalized messages to the reader.

Also, when Franny receives movie or television scripts by fax, the reader, studies and memorizes lines in real time and in unison with Franny. Ultimately these moments where Franny and the reader are one in the same, leads to a shared bond as they both search for self-discovery together. These moments are what make this text uniquely memorable. These moments also lend to the easy conversational style which makes Graham’s characters even more relatable.

Already having discussed the beginning and middle of the work, the end has just as much to offer.  There is a “special questions and topics for discussion” section meant to elevate the discourse surrounding the text.

The book ends with a conversation between Graham and her Parenthood costar, Mae Whitman. Together the two breakdown both the conventional aspects of writing a book as well as some of the more unconventional elements which, specific to this text, include the datebook entries. A reader can hear from Graham in her own blend of wit and literary analysis, explain why she wrote a book about being in your 20s because, “You’re still trying on things for size to see what fits- jobs, people. It’s a process of getting to know yourself like being in a dressing room and trying on jeans.”

I highly recommend you read this witty, yet deep book The Wall Street Journal describes as: “A charmer of a first novel… [Graham] has an easy, unforced style and, when the situation calls for it, a keen sense of the ridiculous.”